Special Service and Features
W20 Summit Women-Led Development; Transform, Thrive and Transcend
Mahabalipuram 14th-16th June 2023
Women 20 Summit is set to take place in Radisson Blu Resort Temple Bay, Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu, India on 14th - 16th June 2023. The theme of this year’s summit is ‘Women-Led Development- Transform, Thrive and Transcend’. The summit will consist of an exhibition, a Janbhagidari event, 8 sessions and a closed-door meeting.
Under India’s presidency, W20 is committed to ensuring increased grassroots-level participation and enhanced stakeholdership of citizens in the W20 process. The summit will begin with a Janbhagidari  which is set on the theme of ‘The Journey of Empowerment’. During the event, transformational stories of women from across India will be shared with the W20 international delegates. The Janbhagidari event also provides grassroots women of Tamil Nadu the platform for sharing their concerns, stories and questions with global women leaders and policymakers. Ms Bansuri Swaraj, Supreme Court Advocate, W20 India Delegate will deliver the opening remarks followed by five grassroots women of India and Ms Megha Harsha, Artist & Guinness World record holder who will share their inspirational stories with the delegates of W20. Ms Virginia Littlejohn, Co-HoD USA, will enrich the session by sharing her experience in empowering grassroots women. The event has been facilitated by the National Rural Livelihood Mission, Ministry of Rural Development, GOI and the Government of Tamil Nadu.
The summit will also include an exhibition from grassroots entrepreneurs of Tamil Nadu, supported by the Department of Rural Development, Tamil Nadu. The exhibition will offer a platform for women entrepreneurs to showcase their skills, creativity, and innovation. It also includes exhibits by W20 Argentina and W20 Indonesia. The exhibition will be inaugurated on 15th June in the Ball Room of Radisson Blu Resort Temple Bay, Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu.
The W20 summit will begin with an inaugural session that will be commenced by the inaugural remarks of Dr Sandhya Purecha, Chair of W20 India. The inaugural session will also be graced by the presence of Dr Shamika Ravi, Chair of the W20 Communique Drafting Committee, Dr Shombi Sharp, UN resident coordinator, India, Shri Amitabh Kant, Sherpa G20, Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani, Hon’ble Minister of Women and Child Development, GoI, and Ms Dharitri Patnaik, Chief Coordinator W20. The W20 Communique 2023, which provides actionable recommendations to the G20 leaders to incorporate in the G20 Leaders’ Declaration, will be released during the inaugural session. W20 will also release a Compendium of Articles on several themes of Women-Led Development written by the delegates and knowledge partners of W20.
On 15th June, three plenary sessions will be conducted on the themes ‘Intersection between Women's Health, Gender Equality, and Socioeconomic Development’, ‘Women-Led Climate Action’, and ‘Bridging the Gender Digital Divide’. The W20 First Respondent Framework will also be released at the end of the first session. The day will end with a Gala Dinner and Cultural Evening which will showcase the rich cultural heritage of Tamil Nadu and India to the W20 delegates.
Three sessions on the themes ‘Breaking the Glass Ceiling’, ‘Economic Empowerment through Trade and Investment’, and ‘Investing in Services and Infrastructure for an Enabling Care Economy’ will take place on 16th June. The W20 summit will proceed to an end with a closing session on ‘Celebrating the Power of Women Empowerment’, a session that aims to celebrate the power of women empowerment and acknowledge the contribution of women to overall societal and economic progress in the world. The closing session will be graced by the presence of Smt. Bharati Ghosh, Former IPS, who will deliver the welcome address, Ms Gulden Turktan, Chair W20 Turkey 2015, Ms Linda Laura Sabbadini, Chair W20 Italy 2021, and Ms Uli Silalahi, Chair W20 Indonesia 2022. Dr Sandhya Purecha, W20 Chair 2023 will bring the summit to a close by delivering her closing address. The W20 delegates will also be experiencing the rich historical heritage of Mahabalipuram during an excursion coordinated by the Department of Tourism, Government of Tamil Nadu on 17th June.
The Women 20  is the official G20 engagement group, created in 2015 under Turkey’s Presidency of G20, with the objective of focusing on gender equity. The primary objective of W20 is women's empowerment and advocating for women’s rights, raising women’s voices in society. India’s W20 agenda focuses on five key priorities: Women’s Entrepreneurship, Grassroots Women's Leadership, Bridging the Gender Digital Divide, Education and Skill Development, and Climate Change.